Vol. 28, No. 36 
DOE Contractors Concerned By Changes in Federal Payment Distribution
-
Contracts & Procurement
Contract Extension Keeps WIPP Manager on the Job
The Energy Department announced on Sept. 15 it would extend the current contract for management and operations of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico through September 2020. DOE employed three of the available five years of options remaining in its contract with Nuclear Waste Partnership, according to a late afternoon press release. AECOM […]
-
Transuranic Waste
DOE Idaho Might Miss 2018 Waste Deadline After WIPP Outage
The extended closure of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico threatens the Energy’s Department legal obligation to remove all transuranic waste from Idaho by the end of 2018, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said in a report released on Sept. 15. Department officials have acknowledged the possible risk cited in the IG’s […]
-
Contracts & Procurement
DOE Ordered to Pay $33M to Former Idaho Cleanup Contractor
The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals has ordered the Energy Department to pay an additional $33.2 million to the former prime cleanup contractor for the Idaho Site. The board said CH2M-WG Idaho is entitled to recover more than $27.3 million in incentive fees for work it did on the Idaho Cleanup Project. In addition, the […]
-
Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
State Panel Report Denounces Feds’ Handling of SRS MOX Project Staff Reports
The federal government is mishandling the MOX project through improper cost evaluations and ongoing attempts to abandon construction of the plutonium-conversion facility, according to a group that advises the governor of South Carolina on nuclear issues. The South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council (SCNAC) issued its report this month following a site visit to the MOX plant at […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Santa Susana Cleanup Slowed by ‘Recognized Complexity’ of Project
The Department of Energy, NASA, and Boeing are wrestling with missed deadlines and expectations for the massive cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California, which was supposed to be well underway this year but remains largely in the planning stages. The state of California is still taking comments on two key documents for […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
DOE Gets More Time to Submit Hanford PUREX Tunnel Plan
The Washington state Department of Ecology is giving the Department of Energy more time to submit a proposal for safe storage of radioactive waste in the Hanford Site’s two PUREX Plant tunnels. The deadline to submit the information in the form of a draft modification to the Hanford RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) dangerous […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford Subcontractor to Pay $2M in False Claims Lawsuit
A Hanford Site subcontractor has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act in connection with small business subcontracts, the Department of Justice announced Thursday. Federal Engineers & Constructors (FE&C) of Richland has long maintained it did nothing improper and admitted no liability in the settlement agreement. The settlement […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Trial Opens in Hanford Contractor Employee Lawsuit
Attorneys for Mission Support Alliance (MSA) say the Hanford Site support-services contractor had good reason to fire an employee who filed a lawsuit alleging retaliation. The attorney for the former manager, Julie Atwood, claims she was targeted by upper management who did not value strong women. Lawyers made their opening statements in the Benton County […]
-
Cleanup & Remediation
Y-12 Mercury Treatment Facility Prep to Begin This Fall
URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), the cleanup prime for the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, has awarded a $1.4 million contract to GEM Technologies to begin preparing the site of a new mercury treatment facility at Y-12 National Complex. By the end of November, GEM will begin demolishing old Oak Ridge electric cables […]
-
Transuranic Waste
DOE IG Finds Gaps in WIPP Quality Assurance Practices
The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico failed to keep watch over suppliers’ capacity to carry out their quality assurance (QA) directives, the DOE Inspector General’s Office said in a new report that highlighted several QA challenges at the site. The report, dated Sept. 14 and released this week, found that some […]
-
Transuranic Waste
ECA Wants Better Path for DOE Waste Management
Changes to the legal and regulatory framework for management of Energy Department nuclear waste could save $40 billion in costs for cleanup of the DOE nuclear complex and hasten the removal of that waste from local communities, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) said in a new report. “ECA understands this is a large change from […]
-
Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile
More Centerra-SRS Strikers Return to Work
Another 11 labor union employees have crossed the picket line and returned to work for Savannah River Site security contractor Centerra-SRS. That brings the total to 59 employees who either did not join the strike that began last month or who have since gone back to work, according to Centerra spokesman Rob Davis. On Sept. 6, […]
-
Budget & Policy
Wrap Up: DOE General Counsel Nominee Clears Senate Panel
The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday approved the nomination of David Jonas to be Department of Energy general counsel by a 14-9 vote. The roll-call vote split almost entirely along party lines, with only Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) Angus King (I-Vt.) breaking ranks with the Democrats to support Jonas’ nomination. There […]